System noise is an increasing concern in the electronics industry. As system operating frequencies increased, timing margins have decreased, making system noise more vulnerable to failure caused by noise that could previously be ignored. While the system noise problems associated with processors are constantly being looked at, programmable logic devices have a further level of complexity because of the varied environments in which the programmable logic device may be used. Therefore, in order to account for the wide variations in which a programmable logic device may be employed, a worst-case scenario is used to generate the specifications that a customer will see. However, a customer may be deterred from utilizing a programmable logic device based on the worst-case scenario even though the customer's application will not encounter these worst-case environmental concerns.
Thus, an improved technique for predicting system noise within a customer's applications is needed for the multiple environments in which the programmable logic device may be used.